Being busy is nothing new for Maia Sharp. But that's usually because she's writing songs for Bonnie Raitt, Cher, the Dixie Chicks and more, or producing artists.

This year, however, Sharp has released a new album of her own -- "Change the Ending," which came out in August -- and joined forces with her father, songwriter Randy Sharp, on the "Dreams of the San Joaquin" group project. And she's particularly proud that the former was the first of her own albums that Sharp produced herself.

"It really felt right for me to produce that one," Sharp, 41, explains. "On all my other albums I've let someone else have the reins entirely while I've produced other singers by myself. But this was the first time it was just me producing myself, which is a whole other animal and I learned a ton from it.

"I took some longer walks than I think I ever have, because...there was nobody there to say either, 'Yeah, you rocked' or 'No, we really need to do that again,' and then I'm thinking about all the other stuff, too. So sometimes it took me a little while to find that place where I was happy and felt like I was getting what I wanted. But I loved it."

Sharp had another significant production job during the past year, helming a pair of "comeback" songs for Art Garfunkel's compilation "The Singer," the first new songs he had recorded since stopping music to deal with a bout of vocal paresis. Sharp has toured with Garfunkel and joined him on the 2002 album "Everything Waits to Be Noticed," and she says she tried to sidestep any pressure or high expectations from Garfunkel's return.

"I was pretty easy on him -- we even took an extra couple of days," she recalls. "It all happened so fast, which is funny because my albums take weeks and weeks. For art it's just, 'Bam! Let's go!' But he's feeling good about (the songs). I feel like they came out great. I think it felt special for both of us."